Christmas in Singapore

Merry Christmas from Singapore!

It was a very different Christmas for us, being so far away from family, but we managed to make the best of it and had an enjoyable Holiday.

On Christmas Eve, it decided to be an overcast and rainy, rainy day.  John had his pals over and I spent a good part of the day preparing for Christmas dinner.  I decided to do Beef Wellington.  What the heck?  We're on our own...we may as well try it on our own!  Jim helped me and kept me company.  We were doing great up until the wrapping of the beef tenderloin.  At that point, the wrapping came apart a bit in one area.  So, not picture perfect, but great for our first attempt!  We feel that I rolled out the dough too thin and the mushroom duxelles was a little too warm and wet.  We should have waited for the mushrooms to chill longer. 

We had dinner at the American Club that night and went to church from there. It was still sprinkling at 8 pm as we were going in to Church.

After services, we came home and opened family gifts.  The boys were happy with Wii Mario Kart and Wii Nerf.  I was happy with my spa gift certificate and Jim was happy with his new Bass guitar.  We played a few rounds of Mariokart with the boys and herded them off to bed. 

Sometime during the night, Santa came!

The boys woke us up early at 6:45 and we headed downstairs to see what he brought.  I put on the coffee and put the egg casserole in the oven.  We opened gifts and spent the day playing and hanging out as a family.  Beef Wellington dinner was delicious.  It held up fine in the oven despite the small tear in the wrapping. 

How does Singapore do Christmas???

Not too bad, actually.

It is a public Holiday so the governmental offices are closed and most workers are off, just like back home.  Singapore goes all out with the Christmas decorations along the main shopping venue, Orchard Rd.   This is Singapore's version of the Magnificent Mile.  Here are a  few shots of the decorations along Orchard:

First, the "heil Hitler" people:

When Jim and I first saw these we both immediately thought the doll people looked as if they were giving all the Holiday shoppers a festive "heil, Hitler."

Random tree along Orchard Rd. sidewalk:

Next to the tree was a festive Christmas ring that would spin on an axis, decorated much like this tree.  It really looked like a Christmas "donut".  Our picture of the donut didn't turn out.

Finally, a pretty tree made of giant ornaments:

Orchard looks quite nice at night when it is lit up all along the road.   Singapore does make it look nice for Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Up Next:  Bali

The Airport Terminal that is Singapore

I can't believe we've nearly made it to our one year mark in Singapore.  Our time is flying quickly!  This past year has brought so much change and needed perspective in our lives.  We feel incredibly lucky to be here and so glad that we made the decision to come.  I remember way back when to the times when moving overseas seemed scary, and then the prospect of moving to Asia was so foreign!  Almost too foreign!  It's sad that I didn't have a much clearer view of the world.  Of course, I wish everyone could do this.  But I digress....

In my pre-Singapore days,  I did research to learn a bit about the new country we would be calling home.  I remember reading a particular piece that compared Singapore to an airport terminal.  How true it is!

Singapore is very clean, very manicured, very landscaped.  It is a planned community to a fault.  So much orderliness gives it a sterile feeling as well, just like an airport terminal.  Modern, simple, sleek, but lacking charm.  

Expat living in this Southeast Asian country is also like being in a terminal.    You're new for a bit, meet people who are here, figure out the place, and then you get settled.

More people show up.  You are all together for a while, but deep inside you realize this is all just a temporary stop.  For some, their time to leave comes and you say goodbye.   These people leave and you may or may not ever see them again.  Sooner or later you know your flight will be called up too.

So in my own rambling way you can probably figure out that living in a terminal isn't always fun when it's your friend's turn to go.  

We are having to say good bye to a few people very soon and I think it's going to be hard. :(

Thanksgiving in Singapore

I am a bit delayed getting to this blog due to anxiety and stressful events going on around me here in Singapore.  More on that later...

On to happier things.

First the obvious:

Yes, Happy Anniversary to us!  November 26th marked our 14th anniversary of wedding bliss.  We celebrated in the usual fashion, meaning we promised to go out sometime.  I know some reading this may think we're pathetic, but this works for us.  Thanksgiving time is just too busy to try and work in anniversary events and we love being together with the kids, too.  Not romantic, I know.  Jim did bring me these beautiful flowers! 

Thanksgiving in Singapore is pretty much the same as home, except most people had someone else doing the work for them.  Mr.  Hoe provided cooked turkey to the vast majority of our friends in the neighborhood but we had already decided to try it for ourselves.  Singapore itself does not celebrate Thanksgiving, and it is not a public holiday over here.   Our kids were off school Thursday and Friday as expected from an American school, but the dads had to take a day off work in order to be at home.

We finally grew up this year and made the entire Thanksgiving meal* all by ourselves.  Our menu:  Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, corn casserole, Waldorf salad, Granny's homemade noodles, rolls, and homemade pumpkin pie.

* I take that back.  I totally cheated and ordered stuffing from the Club.  We vowed next year to learn how to make our own stuffing, too.

I made the pie on the Tuesday night before the holiday.  The rest we did the day of Thanksgiving.  We were very happy with our results!  Here is Jim carving the turkey:

Here we are in front of the buffet: 

Here is Jim working off the turkey tryptophan:

Here's the pie!  Thanks to my sister for the crust recipe! :

Later that night, I put in  the classic  The Sound of Music and we all snuggled up to enjoy the show.  John fell asleep 3/4 of the way into the show, but he said the next day that he really liked "those kids".  I also found out, with the help of Wikipedia, that Georg and Maria share our wedding anniversary!  Isn't that funny?!  They also didn't hike over mountains to escape.  They took a train to Italy.  If they had hiked over the mountains from Salzburg, they would have ended up in Germany.

 Friday after Thanksgiving:  A twofer Blog...aren't you lucky!

Friday morning we packed up some waters and headed to MacRitchie Reservoir for a hike.  It's a vast area of protected jungle with a large lake in the middle.  There are two (or more) ways to hike into an area that has a suspension bridge.  We opted for the shorter path from Venus drive.

We walked through jungle and it was really rather pleasant in the shade.  After an hour we came upon the bridge:

It's a one way walking bridge, giving you an eyeful of canopy.  John was thrilled to make it and once we got here he decided the long, hot walk was all worth it.  Of course they wanted to spend time on the bridge, but that isn't possible when you have other people waiting to go across.  

As we walked across and were nearly to the other peak, John spotted our first monkey that wasn't related to us:

At least, we hope he's not related.  Luckily, he wasn't interested in us.  We scurried by him and circled back to the Venus drive.  All total, the walk was 4 miles and 2 hours.

We made it home, showered, and spent the rest of Friday decorating:

If you'll notice in the background, we put on the classic Santa Clause is Coming to Town.  John paid particular attention and asked many questions.  We are enjoying this year as it may be Santa's last.

Up next:  The Airport that is Singapore

China Day 7- Drum and Bell Towers

This morning we woke up to cool weather that was fairly clear.  We had breakfast and took a taxi to the Drum and Bell Towers.  These towers lie just north of Bei Hai Park and Hou Hai Lake area.  The first Tower we came to was the Drum Tower.

"The Drum Tower was first built in 1272 and marked the center of the old Mongol Capital.  Originally constructed of wood, the structure went up in flames and was rebuilt in 1420.  Stagger up the incredibly steep steps for wide-ranging views over Beijing's rooftops.  The drums were beaten to mark the hours of the day--in effect the Big Ben of Beijing."

Here we are "staggering" up the steep steps.  They weren't kidding! :

At the top of the steps is a large room filled with 25 drums.  These drums are replicas as the originals were destroyed by soldiers of the imperial army after the boxer rebellion.  Well, there are actually 2 or 3 of the originals still housed here and you can see them also.

We needed to wait at the top for about 20 minutes until some folks came out to do a 5 minute drum show.  

The show was neat, but short.  We descended the stairs and walked a very short distance to the Bell Tower.  This is a shot of the outside of the Bell Tower:

We were struck by something unusual at the Bell Tower.  They did a search and a metal detector wand over us before we could go up.  I remembered why on our climb up: the Olympian's father was killed here by some random attacker in August.  Remember?  It's funny that they only installed security measures here and not universally at the tourist sites.

Anyway,

The Bell Tower (Zhong Lou) is an edifice from 1745, which replaced and earlier tower that had burnt down.  Suspended within the tower is a 15 ft high and 42 ton bell that was cast in 1420.

The bell was pretty cool!  And huge!   There was an interesting story that went with the bell. The first attempt at casting this bell failed and the Emperor threatened that if the next one was not made perfectly all the bell makers would be executed.  They set out to forge another bell, but they couldn't get the fire hot enough to cast the bronze.  The daughter of the bell maker leapt into the molten bronze, leaving just her shoes behind and saving the day.  The bell set.

Here is Joe near the bell:

The bell was rung at 7 pm up until 1924 when Emperor Puyi, the last Emperor,  left the Forbidden City.  Now it is rung only on Chinese New Year.

And here are the boys in the Bell Tower looking back over the Drum Tower:

We climbed down the Bell tower and had a great day after that.  We just meandered through the Hou Hai Lake area.  There are Hutongs in this area that have been transformed into stores and restaurants.  It's a very charming area.

Here is Hou Hai Lake:

Here is the hutong area in front of a store that the boys enjoyed:

That night, we met up with the Cat family who had loaned us their driver off and on all week. We couldn't have had such a great week without their help!   They took us to a really great Chinese restaurant( the Red Capitol Club) that was located in an old courtyard house.  Sitting outside the house was Mao's wife's limosine and the inside of the restaurant was filled with all kinds of Chinese cultural items from Mao's day.  The boys also got to climb down into a bomb shelter in the center of the courtyard.  We really enjoyed our time with them, although it was short!  

That ended our last night in China!

The next morning, using tips from the night before, we returned to the Pearl Market and had a successful and rewarding trip.  :)  We also made one last stop at the Toy market before heading to the airport.

Impressions:

1.  I can see why the Drum and Bell Tower are skipped.  We were so happy to have the extra time to see everything and I do recommend a visit here if you have the time.  It doesn't require a full day,  just approx. 2 hours at most.

2.  Don't miss the Hou Hai Lake area!  We fell in love with this area and could have enjoyed another afternoon here.  It also looks like the spot for an evening out.

3.   Don't miss the Red Capitol Club!  Period.

4.  If you're going to the Pearl Market, head up to the 4th floor to Miss Cathy's (or something like that).  She is the reputable one who deals with folks from our company.  She'll take the time to teach you what you need to know and give you a good deal.

More photos from the Great Wall

China Day 6 -- Temple of Heaven

Today was not as exciting as the previous one.  We slept in a bit and had a 9:00 pick up time.  The weather was overcast and 60 degrees.  I think we were all tired so the weather fit our moods. 

We were dropped off the the Temple of Heaven which is within Beijing proper and fairly close to our hotel.  The Temple of Heaven itself is a misnomer.  This is actually a park area with a temple complex made up of a few buildings.  The largest building, Qinian Dian ( the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests),  has become over time incorrectly called the Temple of Heaven.   

Here is Qinian Dian where the Emperor would come once a year (on the winter solstice) and pray to heaven and his ancestors for good harvests:

These buildings are very beautiful and striking with the blue tiled roofs that you only see here.  The circular roofs represent the sky and the blue represents the color of heaven.  I like looking at the large carved marble slabs you see as you climb the marble platform to the temple.  the Dragon represents the Emperor:

We were allowed to look inside the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests but once again, you are not allowed to go inside.  We finished up here and made our way to the next one, the Imperial Vault of Heaven and the echo wall.  Our moods must have followed us because we don't have pictures of those.???  Just as well.  The Imperial vault of heaven was not nearly as impressive as Qinian Dian.

Now remember that these "temples" are all situated in a really lovely park area.  We enjoyed this much more than the buildings themselves, I think.  Along the way, Jim got a couple of good shots of the younger two to try and get a good one of them after having a good one of Jim on the wall:

And the rest and most of this day at the Temple of Heaven was spent playing and people watching:

Across the street from this park is the Pearl Market.  We ventured there first before going to the Temple of Heaven and quickly left because we suck at shopping together.  I was in no mood to shop with dead weight around and 3 bored kids to boot.  This turned out to be great for us in the long run.  We return on a later day.

Next to the Pearl Market was a toy store.  We also stopped there and bought 3 kites we had planned to fly in the park.  Unfortunately it wasn't windy enough to give them a try.

We ended up back at the Ascott after 2:00 with no lunch and everyone crabby.  We opted for a later dinner of Peking Duck which was fun.

Impressions:

1.  This was our least favorite day even though we especially enjoyed the park and the beautiful buildings.  The prior days of touring caught up with us and none of us were truly in the mood to tour.  My favorite line regarding this was a conversation I over heard between Jim and Joe the morning we were getting ready to go:  Joe says to Jim, "Do you want to fly kites or do you want to see more dead people stuff?"

2.  Enjoy the park time if you can.  It breaks up the day and the touring nicely.  Hopefully you'll get a windy day.

3.  It's not a good idea to rely on your spouse to get the lunch plans every day.  She just might decide not to do it one day and see if you notice, and guess what, you didn't.  She got tired of Subway and you couldn't find any edible (to us) food out and about. 

Up Next:  Last Day touring the Drum and Bell Towers.  A great unplanned day!

Great Wall Day!

We were picked up for the drive to the Great Wall at Mutianyu at 0800.  I have to admit that I was a little anxious about the day as it started off overcast/smoggy.  The drive that I thought would be the longest (I thought 2+ hours from Beijing) was actually really short!  I think it took us only 1 1/2 hours!

By the time we reached Mutianyu, the sun reappeared and the weather was gorgeous!  We parked in the lot and passed the small line of vendors to find the cable car to the top of the mountain to the wall itself.  You are able to walk up the mountain, but we were told by many people prior to our trip to save our energy by doing the cable car, especially with kids.  

Jim purchased the tickets and off we went, except for one problem:

As you can see,  this was not a cable car!  This is a ski lift!  We have discovered over time and experience that I, (Vicki), and my son, Jim, do not do well with heights!  We had a lovely death-gripping ski lift ride on Sentosa island last spring.  We weren't eager to repeat that feeling. Nothing went wrong.  Just heights!

Aaaaah!  Well, there was no way around it that we could see, so off we went!  The ride on the ski lift was no problem this time.  I think because this ski lift had a bar for your feet to rest upon.  That seemed to make all the difference to me.  That or maybe we were so excited to be at the Great Wall!  Here is our view from the top after disembarking the ski lift:

A word about the wall:

A symbol of China's historic detachment and sense of vulnerability, the Great Wall snakes through the countryside over deserts, hills, and plains for several thousand miles.....The Great Wall was created only after the unification of China under Qin Shi Huangdi (221 - 210 BC).  Despite impressive battlements, the wall ultimately proved ineffective; it was breached in the 13th century by the Mongols and then, in the 17th century, by the Manchu."

There are several areas of wall to visit from Beijing.  The most popular and therefore the most crowded and touristy, is the Great Wall at Badaling.  This is popular because it is the closest to Beijing and easiest to get to.   There is a Starbucks here, too. 

We were told to go to Mutianyu, and from my readings, this is what we would have chosen on our own as well.  Mutianyu is 90Km north of Beijing.  It is more hilly than Badaling and has less tourists.  The views are supposed to be better here.  This section has watch towers built in 1368 on top of the Wall that was built in 550 AD. 

The other section of wall we'd read about is Simitai.  Simitai is 68 Km NE of Beijing.  The wall is only partially restored here.  It is also steeper and more treacherous.  There is a 4 hour trek you can do from the Simitai Wall to Jingshanling that reportedly has great views.  If we didn't have kids with us, I would have chosen to do it this way!

As it was, we were at Mutianyu!  It seemed as if we had the entire wall to ourselves--and we soon found out why!  Remember the cable car???  Apparently there is a cable car up, but it is located quite a ways from where we went up on the ski lift.  We could see the ant-like people around the cable car let off point from our ski lift point.  Pretty cool!  All those ant people were going to head our direction to the luge down.  [ I was saving that part as a surprise in the blog for later, but you go up the wall on a lift and down on a luge.  Fun!]

Now we had a choice: left, toward the people  or right, toward ????   

We were told by a wizened guide to head right.  He told us we would come to the end of the area of restored wall and would see a sign telling us to turn back.  He said don't turn back!  Go ahead another 1000 feet or so for even more spectacular views.   We thanked him and headed right.

We were immediately faced with climbs.  Up, up, up, and down, down, up, up, and finally way up!  We stopped for our water.  All along the way we took pictures.  It was humbling to be there.  I never, in a million years, ever thought I would walk on the Great Wall.  After our last big climb, we went through the last high watch tower and found this: 

 Here is the sign telling you to turn back.  We cautiously continued forward.  I had to take a picture of what we were walking through.  Mind you, we were still ON the wall:

That was nature growing ON the wall.  Lots of nature!  And the nice stone bricks on the right of the picture eventually were crumbled and gone and it was, at times, a very scary slow walk.  You can imagine my voice instructing the kids to be careful of EVERY STEP.  At least this area was flat.  We couldn't have done this with any sort of climb.  It would have been too dangerous.

Was it worth it?  Well:

It was really, really special.  Loved feeling like we were the only people  venturing around on the wall.  We enjoyed every moment.

Here is just one of the climbs up to this forbidden area: 

Here is one photo we took along the way to that area.  I think this is one of my favorite photos of the China trip:

From the forbidden area, we took pictures of the wall we could see beyond Mutianyu.  You see, the Wall is on mountaintops.  It is actually in segments along the mountains.  So our area ended just beyond our forbidden area and continued on a far off mountain top.  Here is a crumbling watch tower on the neighboring mountain.  You can also see how nature grows right on the wall.  A small forest, I tell ya! :

We enjoyed the solitude and vistas for a while and headed back toward the luge for the ride down.  I think I could have spent days here.  As it was, we spent several hours already.

Here is a view of the wall we were heading back toward.  So neat.: 

 On our way back, our one goal was to get a decent enough family photo to use as a Christmas Card this year.  We had to wait an eternity to find a guy to take a picture, but I think it's not half bad:

We continued on from that picture, up and back to the ski lift/luge area.  We all had a ball speeding down the mountain:

At the bottom base camp, we stopped for lunch (Subway again!  Can you feel the excitement in my voice!) and a bit of bargaining/shopping.  John came away with a small resin gold colored dragon.  I got 3 small "terra cotta" soldiers I had been wanting.

 Leaving Mutianyu.  Now we were going into uncharted territory.  I had heard from a friend to book a hotel stay at the Commune By The Wall.  This is a remarkable hotel/houses area near Badaling where, according to what I had heard, you would have the Wall in your backyard.  Literally.   You really need to google this to see how cool it is.  In any event, we didn't think it would be any trouble to drive from Mutianyu to Badaling to the Commune.

Wish we'd looked into this a bit more.  Or at least prepared for it.

First, this entire day was the absolute highlight of our trip.  Even the kids think this despite what torture we put them through from here.  I'm not sure what we were thinking, but we definitely weren't smoking anything. 

The entire trip from Mutianyu to Badaling took us through the most beautiful countryside:

It was everything you really do want see and experience on a trip to China.  However, the entire trip was through mountains.  Very curvy up, curvy down.  After 2 hours of this,  John understandably felt sick.  We had to stop for a bit and then continue on.  Another freaking hour.

It was such a juxtaposition of feelings.  You loved the views, the countryside, the unadulterated China.  You hated the road, the van, and for the love of God, how much longer???  

Here is a typical scene we saw along the way.  It is harvest time in China.  No combines.  After cutting the corn by hand, it is transported this way:
 Eventually we made it to Badaling.  We were on our last nerve.  Sick, tired, exhausted.  The Commune looked nothing like the photos online.  Well maybe a little like it, but not anything like you'd expect after reading the site.  Then there was that bit about the wall.  We passed the Badaling Wall area.  And kept driving 15 more minutes to this place.  That's not a wall in my backyard, mister.  Then there was the little issue that Jim booked this reservation for the wrong week, so they had us checking in next week. 

 Okay, three strikes and we're out.

They had room for us, but we decided to bag it.  Our driver must have thought we were insane.  He didn't complain though and drove us the 1 1/2 hours back to the Ascott.  We gave the kids any dinner they wanted (Italian) and called it a night.

I wouldn't want to repeat the late afternoon we had, but this day was the pinnacle of our trip overall.  That's how great the Great Wall is.

Thoughts:

1)  October and May are supposed to be the best for weather, and I agree.  We had glorious weather!

2)  Skip Badaling.   If you have kids, do Mutianyu.   If you don't and you are healthy and in reasonable shape, I would consider the Wall at Simitai to Jingshanling.

3)  Always pack food and drinks.  Even if it's Subway sandwiches every day.

4)  Take a good camera and good shoes and enjoy.  Soak it all in. 

5)  I love my kids.  They are hardy travelers after the long ride we had today.

6)  There is a western potty here!  You have to look for it, though.  The first one they directed me to was not.

7)  My one recurring thought while walking and observing the wall was they must have been really scared of someone to go to all this trouble to build this wall on mountains.  Mountains are natural barriers all on their own.  It mind boggling to see a ginormous wall on top of that!

Up next:  Temple of Heaven!

China Day 4

Today we woke up to beautiful weather again.  The day promised to start off cool and end up sunny and warm.  We started off our day around 8 am at Tian' an Men Square.  

Tian'an Men is a vast open concrete expanse at the heart of modern Beijing.

I was surprised at the Square.  I thought it would be more open and you would be able to see from one end to another; however, this isn't the case.  Mao's Mausoleum, a large building in the front 1/3 of the square, blocks any view across an open square. 

Here is a photo of the Arrow Tower, or Jian Lou.  It was first built in the Ming Dynasty and it is now closed to the public.  This lies across the street from Tian'an Men Square.

                                   The revolutionary statues in front of Mao's Mausoleum

 The Arrow Tower above in the previous photo (Jian lou) is directly across the street from this tower:
 which is Qian Men.  These two towers formed a double gate to the city.  We are standing in Tian'an Men Square!

At this point we opted to skip Chairman Mao's bodily remains and take in the rest of the Square.  We walked past his Mausoleum and into the back 2/3 of Tian'an Men.  Here are the boys in front of the Great Hall of the People, the seat of the Chinese Legislature.

Right about this point,  the boys began to be objects of fascination again.  Pretty much for the rest of this day, actually.  I would estimate they had their pictures taken by at least 20 groups today.  At least they were good humored about it!

Tian'an Men was decorated quite a bit. There was a big Olympic display out that was pretty and then this large Chinese Lantern: 

Finally we came to Tian'an Men, the Ming Dynasty gate from which Mao proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China.  His picture still hangs there on the gate.  People in China hero worship him.  It's, um, different.

Lots of pictures!  Here was a friendly group:

Then we crossed the street and took our picture directly in front of Tian'an Men:

You pass through this gate (with Mao's picture) to get to the Palace Museum, also known as The Forbidden City.

Forming the very heart of Beijing, the Forbidden City is China's most magnificent architectural complex and was completed in 1420.  The huge palace is a compendium of imperial architecture and a lasting monument of dynastic China from which 24 emperors ruled for nearly 500 years.  The palace was the exclusive domain of the imperial court and dignitaries until the 1920's.  It was fully opened to the public in 1949.

Okay, so we went under Mao and entered into the Outer Court of the Forbidden City.  We were startled by deep guttural yelling, and out of some side building came a line of Chinese army!  Several units ran out and began doing drills behind a roped off area.  Here's a photo of them lined up.  We were only several feet away:

We watched the soldiers for a short while and then passed beyond the outer court and into the Forbidden City!  The highlights that most people hit are the large Halls which are in a series horizontally across the length of the Palace Walls.  Among them are the Gate of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Middle Harmony, the Hall of Preserving Harmony, and finally the Gate of Heavenly Peace.  Whew!  Mind you: you can't actually enter the halls.  You can walk around them and peer inside.  

Here is the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the largest Hall in the palace.  It was used for big occasions such as the enthronement of an Emperor:

Inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony sits an ornate throne:

Very neat!  Lots of Halls, lots of people, lots to see.  The best part is beyond all the Halls and buildings, when you get to the Imperial Gardens.  Still inside the Forbidden City, it is filled with ancient trees (Cyprus ones) and rock gardens with small pavilions.   We wandered throughout the garden and were absolutely delighted when we ran into a school group armed with one brave girl who stepped forward and spoke with us to practice her English.  Among the giggles and blushes from the school kids, one by one they got braver and tried to say simple phrases, "how are you"  "how old are you" etc.   We were happy to pose with this group!  It was the highlight of our day!

  

At this point, we exited the Forbidden City and walked beyond its walls.  We were starving!  We found a spot to sit and eat our Subway.  Jim and Joe posed for a quick pic.  Behind them is the moat and the Forbidden City's walls.

Refueled, we made the short walk to Bei Hai Park.

An Imperial Garden for more than 1000 years, Bei Hai Park was opened to the public in 1925.  Filled with artificial hills, pavilions, and temples, it is associated with Kublai Khan, who redesigned it during the Mongol Yuan dynasty.  The park is named after its extensive lake, Bei Hai, whose southern end is bordered by the inaccessible Zhongnanhai, the Communist Party Headquarters.

We walked around a bit and made our way to the lake where we rented a boat for a while. 

The day keeps going!  We left the park by the opposite end and  found a guy to take us on a Trishaw tour of a hutong!  Jim had to bargain down the price, and he did a great job.  It's a little nerve-racking to try this out (the bargaining), but riding through Beijing's old neighborhoods was very eye opening for all of us.

Hutong's are alleyways where many Beijing residents still live.  The sad reality is that many hutongs are being demolished to make way for more modern buildings.  It is a shame as these are such a part of history!

Typically running east to west, hutong are created by the walls of courtyard houses.  Most are now state owned.

We actually boarded two trishaws and followed each other through the alleyways past many "homes" that people still live in.  At one point, we were invited to go inside and peek around.  It is humbling.  This particular hutong neighborhood was, if you believe our guide, where Jackie Chan lived.

The tours are less than an hour.  You  must do one if you ever visit Beijing.

Post-hutong, we taxied back to our hotel for a rest.  This night we went out for dinner to a restaurant recommended to us by Beijing Cat folks.  It was a nicer place, which frankly, was difficult with the kids after such a full day.  But the food was amazing again!

Impressions:

1.   We became aware again of being an oddity to the locals.  We find that disarming them with a smile and a "ni hao" makes them happy and turns a stare into a "conversation".  Three boys?  Wow.  So lucky.  Pat on back, hand shake.  Then we move on.

2.  Tian'an Men was much different than I had pictured in my head.  It's not a wide open space like a Quad on a University campus.  That's what I had in my head.  It's also full of touring groups.  

3.  Forbidden City is large.  We only were able to do the highlights but there is so much more to see!  The gardens were a bit crowded, but very pretty.  Western toilets here. :)

4.  Bei Hai park was just what we needed after touring Halls and Gates.  It allowed us to let off steam and relax.  The scenery is very nice.

5.  Hutong tour is a must do.  I still wonder how people live in such close proximity to each other in such narrow alleys.

Up Next:  Great Wall of China!